Quinolone carboxylic acid derivatives are synthetic antibacterial agents which are well known to be useful for the treatment of infective diseases in human and animals due to their potent and broad antimicrobial activities. Currently, quinolone-based antimicrobial agents such as norfloxacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, etc. are very usefully applied for the treatment of human diseases, and their efficacies are acknowledged. However, these medicines have the problem that even though they show excellent antimicrobial activities against Gram-negative bacteria, they still show ordinary or relatively low antimicrobial activities against Gram-positive bacteria. Accordingly, there have been various studies for solving such problems of existing quinolone-based antimicrobial agents, and as a result, sparfloxacin having improved antimicrobial activities against Gram-positive bacteria has been developed. However, this compound still shows weak antimicrobial activities against Streptococci, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other currently increasing quinolone-resistant strains. The above-mentioned strains are well known as pathogens of respiratory infections. Therefore, there are increasing needs for the development of improved quinolone antimicrobial agents which exhibit excellent antimicrobial activities against these strains.
In quinolone-based antimicrobial agents, R-7-(3-aminomethyl-4-methoxyimino-3-methyl-pyrrolidin-1-yl)-1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-[1,8]naphthyridine-3-carboxylic acid exhibit excellent antimicrobial activities against Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, methicillin resistant bacteria, and existing quinolone-resistant strains.
In general, it is well known to those skilled in the art that an active ingredient used in a pharmaceutical composition should be highly soluble in water or aqueous solution having a broad range of pH. Accordingly, the development of salts having excellent solubility is needed in order to increase the bioavailability of the R-7-(3-aminomethyl-4-methoxyimino-3-methyl-pyrrolidin-1-yl)-1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-[1,8]naphthyridine-3-carboxylic acid.
Thus, the present inventors have described various salts of R-7-(3-aminomethyl-4-methoxyimino-3-methyl-pyrrolidin-1-yl)-1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-[1,8]naphthyridine-3-carboxylic acid in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-0029698. Examples of such acids are inorganic acids such as hydrochloric acid, phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, etc., organic acids such as methanesulfonic acid, p-toluenesulfonic acid, acetic acid, citric acid, maleic acid, succinic acid, oxalic acid, benzoic acid, tartaric acid, fumaric acid, mandelic acid, lactic acid, glycolic acid, gluconic acid, galacturonic acid, glutamic acid, etc., and alkali metal ions such as sodium ions, potassium ions, etc. However, hydrochloride is usually used as a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of R-7-(3-aminomethyl-4-methoxyimino-3-methyl-pyrrolidin-1-yl)-1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-[1,8]naphthyridine-3-carboxylic acid.
L-aspartic acid was approved by the US FDA as a food additive, and the acid has been safely and widely used. L-aspartic acid is a stable and colorless liquid that is not hygroscopic and corrosive and has stability in preparation because it is not toxic. It is so easy to treat the acid that L-aspartic acid may be easily used in mass production. In addition, the acid is known to contribute to hepatic detoxification, assist in mineral absorption, enhance DNA and RNA metabolism and improve immunocompetence. However, when L-aspartic acid is administered alone, the solubility and internal absorption is so low that only minor effects are known to be exerted when the acid is administered even in excess. Therefore, L-aspartic acid has not been conventionally used as a pharmaceutically acceptable salt.
Thus, the present inventors have performed research to develop a salt having excellent solubility to improve the bioavailability of the R-7-(3-aminomethyl-4-methoxyimino-3-methyl-pyrrolidin-1-yl)-1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-[1,8]naphthyridine-3-carboxylic acid, prepared L-aspartate of R-7-(3-aminomethyl-4-methoxyimino-3-methyl-pyrrolidin-1-yl)-1-cyclopropyl-6-fluoro-4-oxo-1,4-dihydro-[1,8]naphthyridine-3-carboxylic acid, confirmed that the L-aspartate has better solubility as well as better physical properties such as stability, etc. than hydrochloride and D-aspartate, and aspartic acid is easily dissolved in the form of salt and internally absorbed to have a lower toxicity than the other salts, and made the present invention.